Disney elevates Mike White to lead metaverse business

The Walt Disney Company (Disney), which has granted patents to create its own “virtual world simulator” at its theme parks in January, has now entrusted Mike White to lead its metaverse strategy. White, who is currently working as Senior Vice President, Consumer Experiences & Platforms at Disney, will now be donning the role of Senior Vice President of Next Generation Storytelling and Consumer Experiences.

Working in close coordination with Disney's creative teams, White will help define how consumers experience Disney’s coming metaverse. He will be reporting to Kareem Daniel, chairman of Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution, and to Josh D’Amaro, chairman of parks, experiences and products. 

While it is widely believed that metaverse is a combination of both the physical and digital worlds where people can interact virtually, the ‘virtual-world simulator’ is a metaverse technology that Disney claims will give virtual effects onto physical spaces at its theme parks. The company in November last year had announced its plans to foray into the metaverse space. 

Also read: 25% of all individuals will spend at least an hour in the metaverse by 2026: Gartne

“For nearly 100 years, our company has defined and re-defined entertainment by leveraging technology to bring stories to life in deeper, more impactful ways,” Disney chief executive Bob Chapek, stated in a note to its employees.

“Today, we have an opportunity to connect those universes and create an entirely new paradigm for how audiences experience and engage with our stories,” the note further read. 

Apart from Disney, Technology giants such as Meta-owned Facebook and Microsoft are also making big bang investments in metaverse projects. 

Meanwhile, Disney aims to leverage on its patented virtual world simulator technology in order to project moving 3-D images on real-world objects that would be able to interact with guests. While most of such technology, which is currently in use by Disney is for large-scale experiences with lots of guests, this would also be focused on creating the individual guest experience.